A blog dedicated to coverage of rock news, reviews of CD's/DVD's, live gigs and interviews with musicians who have made rock music great!
Coverage of hard rock, classic rock, AOR and popular melodic rock music across the genre.
This blog is the creation of Alun Williams, a Brit now living in Michigan whose previous credits include writing for the following sites:
www.classicrock.about.com
www.classicrockrevisited.com
and www.rocknrolluniverse.com (Now gone)
I hope you enjoy your visit here!

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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Brief News Update for Saturday 14th May, 2011

Hi folks, well you probably guessed there's been loads going on for me, hence lack of updates and you'd be right, but .... Blogger.com has also been down for maintenance each time I did have time to login, so it prevented me updating the site at that time.Anyway, yes, I was working away from home this past week, lengthy days nowhere near a PC and when I did get done, I was wiped out and then at other times hit the Blogger.com issue!So, here we go, it's Saturday and FA Cup final day in England, this year it's the revitalised Manchester City, who now with loads of money behind them have had possibly their best season in years, will be facing Stoke City, who've just completed their first season in the UK's Premier League. Good luck guys!

This news update is going to be my last for a week, as the family is taking a vacation and believe me, Rhonda and I can't wait to get some time off work that's for this specific reason ... Vacation!So, make the most of this update - Even if some of it is possibly news you've already seen elsewhere this week! - and I'll be back in a week! Cheers, Al

VAN HALEN TO HEADLINE AUSTRALIA’S SOUNDWAVE REVOLUTION MUSIC FESTIVAL

Wednesday, 11 May 2011 - It’s OFFICIAL – the first confirmed VAN HALEN tourdates for 2011 have been announced! VAN HALEN will headline SOUNDWAVE REVOLUTION, an annual music festival held in major cities around Australia.

The 5 confirmed festival dates are:

Brisbane – September 24

Sydney – September 25

Melbourne – September 30

Adelaide – October 1

Perth – October 3

SOUNDWAVE REVOLUTION Full Line-up for 2011:ACTS ANNOUNCED TODAY (Announced May 11th at 9pm in Australia, 7am EST in U.S.)

I'd also hazard a guess that perhaps 'the' new album will materialize in Spring next year, followed by European dates in the Summer of 2012.

With all the stories of Eddie not being happy with what Diamond Dave Lee Roth had presented so far, causing the delays.

Sammy Hagar to hit the road this summer with The Wabos

Meantime, while all the speculation is doing the rounds on will they or won't they tour here or there, former Van Halen frontman, Sammy Hagar who 'loves' to play live, is starting to line up a few summer US dates of his own. So he at least doesn't look like he's going to let US fans down.

He's hitting the road on the back of his successfully launched autobiography, 'My Uncensored Life In Rock,' book, which has already been causing a stir here and there for one reason or another.

At this time Sammy and the Wabo's have only confirmed a few shows, which are as follows:

The story goes that Jimi Hendrix was once asked what it was like to be the greatest guitarist in the world, to which he replied, “I don’t know, go ask Rory Gallagher!”

Rory Gallagher (1948-1995) is simply one of the all-time guitar greats. Slash, The Edge, Brian May, Johnny Marr, Janick Gers, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Tipton and Vivian Campbell have all said it. Since practically inventing the Power Trio format in Taste (both Cream and Taste debuted in 1966), Gallagher’s music has stood the test of time and he’s as popular now as he ever was, his influence gargantuan.

The story of Rory’s lost San Francisco album actually starts in Japan. In November 1977, after a grueling six-month world tour, the band flew straight from their last show in Japan to San Francisco to begin working on a new album with famed American producerElliot Mazer (who worked on Neil Young’sHarvest,Big Brother & The Holding Company’sCheap Thrills and The Band’sThe Last Waltz). Mazer recalls the sessions grew “tense,” as Gallagher thought the mixing process “too complicated.” By the end of January 1978, he had shelved the whole record and broke up his band of the past five years.

Fast forward to 2011 when Rory’s brother/manager Donal allowed his son Daniel to recover the album from the Gallagher archive and begin the process of mixing it with his engineer. Rory said in 1992 he hoped the album would surface one day but only if it were remixed. Bingo. Hearing this historic never-before-issued studio album from a key period of Gallagher’s career (the album that would have been released between Calling Card and Photo Finish) is the Holy Grail for Rory’s fans.

CD #2 is another fabulous discovery: a blistering live album taken from four December nights in 1979 at San Francisco’s The Old Waldorf. In the audience Van Morrison, on stage Rory Gallagher (guitar/vocals), Gerry McAvoy (bass) and Ted McKenna (drums). Daniel Gallagher chose to add the live side to highlight why Rory chose to shelve the studio album and reduce his band back down to a three-piece. Rory, after seeing The Sex Pistols at Winterland during final mixes for his own album, was struck by the stark drama and blunt primitivism of pure punk. “It was as close to Eddie Cochran as you’re going to get,'' he enthused. He had been saying that he wanted to get back to what he called “meat’n’potato rock’n’roll,” a stripped-back primal raw immediacy hearkening back to his Taste days.

A street has been named after him in Paris; a corner in Dublin; a statue in his Ballyshannon birthplace, where The International Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival is held. There’s a Rory Gallagher Place and Rory Gallagher Music Library in Cork. Annual tributes are held in Germany and Japan. The man has sold in excess of 20 million albums. Notes From San Francisco [MSRP $17.98] will be a worthy addition to his canon.

Following the success of the last three remixed / remastered Thin Lizzy releases earlier this year in, Jailbreak, Johnny The Fox and Live and Dangerous, there's three other Lizzy classic's about to be re-launched.

On June 26th, 2011 Lizzy fan's will be able to hear Black Rose, Bad Reputation and Chinatown reissued, remastered and with added bonus tracks.

Bad Reputation will be just one disc with six bonus tracks, but both Black Rose and Chinatown will be two disc sets, with surely the most exciting news for Lizzy fans being that Black Rose will actually feature two completely never before released tracks in any shape or form!
The other tracks are unreleased live tracks, studio outtakes, radio sessions or b-sides.
The full details as follows:

The next batch of reissues!

Great news! The next batch of reissues have been announced! Bad Reputation, Black Rose and Chinatown and are due in the shops on 26th June and they all come packaged with a stack of bonus material made up of BBC sessions and unreleased versions and live recordings. All handpicked by the band!

Black RoseDisc One1- Do Anything You Want To Do2- Toughest Street In Town3- S & M4- Waiting For An Alibi 5- Sarah6- Got To Give It Up7- Get Out Of Here8- With Love9- A Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock LegendPart One: Shenandoah Part Two: Will You Go Lassie Go Part Three: Danny Boy Part Four: The Mason's Apron

Disc Two1- Just The Two Of Us B-Side2- A Night In The Life Of A Blues Singer (longer version)3- Rock Your Love(unreleased)4- Don't Believe A Word (slow version Phil and Gary vocals)5- Toughest Street In Town (different version) -1978 Nassau Session Versions6- S & M7- Got To Give It Up 8- Cold Black Night (unreleased)9- With LoveBlack Rose Part One: Shenandoah Part Two: Will You Go Lassie Go Part Three: Danny Boy Part Four: The Mason's Apron

ChinatownDisc One1- We Will Be Strong2- Chinatown3- Sweetheart4- Sugar Blues5- Killer On The Loose6- Having A Good Time7- Genocide (The Killing Of The Buffalo)8- Didn't I9- Hey You

FULLFORCE TO RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM "ONE" JULY 26TH IN NORTH AMERICA ON SPV/STEAMHAMMER

FULLFORCE was formed in 2009 and now consists of members Mike Andersson (Cloudscape, Vocals),Stefan Elmgren (ex Hammerfall, Guitars), Anders Johansson (Hammerfall, ex Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Drums), CJ Grimmark (ex Narnia, Guitars) and Tommy Larsson (ex Heed, Bass). The Swedish five-piece started to write songs in order to complete their debut album and they describe their music to be a genuine blend of traditional, catchy heavy metal to more updated melodic metal with some ethnic touches which will make them a standout to within the genre. The band truly believes in their music and in late 2010 they completed the recording of 12 songs to be included on "One".

"After being in contact with a few interested labels during these last months, we are happy to announce the decision of becoming a part of the SPV family! SPV is a label with a great Metal tradition and it's an honor for FULLFORCE to join forces with them for the release of our debut album "One". In SPV we see a good vision and a great future for FULLFORCE...this is the best thing that could have happened to us!"
(Mike Andersson, FULLFORCE vocalist)

"There are always reservations regarding bands with ex-members of well known bands but with FULLFORCE it´s different. I think that a lot of people will be very surprised when they hear the songs. It´s great to have the band on our roster and I´m sure that there is a bright future for the band."
(Olly Hahn, A&R SPV Steamhammer)

Although ready, willing and able to perform, the promoter had made this impossible by not fulfilling his contractual obligations to the band. While this cancellation is quite disappointing to STRYPER, management and agency, the process of rescheduling shows in Mexico is underway. It is important and necessary that all STRYPER fans in Mexico understand the bands dedication to their fans around the world, and their obligation to honor their word and commitments.
Best Regards,John GreenbergUnion Entertainment http://www.stryper.com/News/news.htm

MEET DOCTOR FAITH: FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 12 YEARS FROM CHRISTOPHER CROSS!

The voice rides high. Melodic. Beautiful. Everything everybody ever loved about Christopher Cross is on display in the 13 exquisite tracks of Doctor Faith, being released May 10 by Eagle Rock Entertainment (through earMusic).

It marks the first all-new studio offering from Christopher Cross in 12 years.Thirty-one years, five Grammys and an Oscar later, Doctor Faith is a dramatic return. His songwriting has never been sharper, more observant. His singing is better than it’s ever been. The production, for the first time, is guitar-oriented, rather than keyboard-oriented. Michael McDonald is on hand to give voice to the title character.

“This album not only feels like a new chapter to my career,” says Cross, “it feels like starting a whole new book.” Cross has dedicated the album to Joni Mitchell“for a lifetime of inspiration.” Influenced by Mitchell’s idiosyncratic way with a lyric line, and the guts to delve deep, Cross, and long time songwriting partner Rob Meurer, have written some songs sure to be instant classics.

Opener “Hey Kid” lays it all out: optimistic yet cautious, forward-thinking yet imbued with a world-weary voice-of-experience, it sets the tone for such profundities as “I’m Too Old For This,” “Poor Man’s Ecstasy,” “Still I Resist” and the title track.
One of the recurring themes of the album is the search for peace by making peace within one’s self.Cross landed loud and large on the music scene in 1980, winning the Grammy for “Best New Artist.”“Sailing” and “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” were both #1s, the latter co-written with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and the late Peter Allen. Cross charted eight times between 1980 and 1983.
He has eight albums to his credit, as well as a number of other packages. Through it all, he’s maintained his high level of excellence, also singing, writing and performing with other artists.